The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1887-11-17
From the Eust.s Lake Region1
RANDOM THOUGH r9.

One Of the brightest of the metropoli-
tan dailies did me the honor a short time
| ago to devote an editorial to myself and
my writings. 1t spiced the unstinted
| p -aise it gave with the remark that l was
30 much given to the "desceat from the
sublime to the ridiculous" Well, why
not? Is not all life, aud all that ia, de-
! scent from the sublime to the ridiculous !?
| What could be more sublime, or awe with
more terrific grandeur, than Chaos wait
| ing to be resolved into almost geometrical
precision? Mountain and plain, earth
! a "a water are in ind 1stinguishable confu-
SION, moving with ut any defined pur-
pose; a;mless win heavy with the
| t npest aud the orm crash of light
! ming and the wild sobbing of homeless
! sc s; over all 81 nee desolate as sub
Unity always is. l. not descent from
that to this? From Chaos knowing moth
ing but God, to thI world of towns and
cities where men / y Upon each other
and call it buslne ), OF strive to stand
higher than their fe owe, and women be-
| lieve that life cons ts cf kisses and the
laughter of happy 1iId en-? Perhaps it
is an ascent. Quien sata:'
Upon some platf rm If high endeavor
some man stands, like human with our
selves. Genius thrills every fibre of his
being and crowns him King. Thousands
of fellow humans hang breathless on the
silken music of his tongue. From the
| deep impassioned eyes a grand soul leaps
out in sentient flashes to waken other
| souls to life. The vast audience is as
putty in his hands, and is moved to pas
sion or to tears and laughter at his will
! The words he utters will be read by mil
lions tomorrow. They may change the
| geography of q nation, or fan the embers
| of a revolution. How like god he looks
strung to the most fascinating melody by
that most terrible gift of God to man, the
| gift of eloquence. He is as much the
master of the vast audience before him as
if they were his slaves bound to him by
hereditary right of bondage. Two hours
after he may be walking his bed room
| floor in an abbreviated night garment,
with the paregoric bottle in one hand
and twenty pounds of vociferous colicy
toothessness on the other. Is not that
descent from the sublime to the ridicu-
lous:
In the silence of midnight, when the
fret of human life is still, and only the
stars shine out bright and beautiful like
the thoughts OF long forgotten lives, some
lonely soul whose brain has been touched
with the magic that made the morning
stars sing together, puts song on paper
and gives it to the world The people
rouse as from dream at this newer voice
which says" " let there be light. The
mystic vibrations of that master heart
reach out to other hearts, and along the
line of destiny runs a tongue of flame.
The oppressed in distant lands hear it.
The heads once bowed beneath the yoke
are now erect, defiant, and sword in hand
they fight for liberty. Crouched over
the shuddering fires of poverty and grief
the weary and the heavy laden hear it
and know that the Rock of Ages still has
room for all. 1t crosses from ocean to
ocean on the viewless wings Of morning,
and everywhere it leaves this world bet
ter for it's singing. Is not that sublime
Half an hour later he who wrote it may
be bowling like wild Comanche because
way down in the ro OF of a bi-cuspid an
almost invisible nerre may have decided
that it needs little exercise Is not this
ridiculous, and is not the descent an easy
one ?
Swift through tn whirling winds of
npper air the kingly eagle plulnes his
xayward flight. rs eye glares upon
the sun fierce aul undaunted. Like
threads of silver the waters lie beneath
/ l;+,n,.c Fart Ttba h1,,b,ef
mountain tops are out nlilestones upon
his passing journey. The storm clouds
break about him but he dares their brav-
est power. Sweeping down in the very
dcirium of grandest and most perfect
life, tiny piece Of lead brings him low
and he becomes the voiceless guardian of
some field of corn.
Humanity is the highest type of all
created life Divinity itself dwells therein
and infinity was the model after which
it was patterned. Is not the man as God
intended him, sublime in all his attri-
butes His life is but death after
which he becomes immortal. He passes
through TIE cruci6xion and the resurrec-
tion-he is Of Christ And woman
Who of mortal mould can picture the peF-
feet woman? The dauae4ess love that
ever grows brighterunder disaster; the
faith that always sees star even in the
blackest night the heroism greater than
that Of any of the worlds conquerors for
it faces defeat and agony accomplishing
ly; the sweet brave soul that wears the
crown of matyrdom for Others And yet
man and women born in the image of their
maker become at last the prey of the low
est type of all created things-are food
for worms. HAMILTON JAY.